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Hampton Roads Community Foundation Blog

Turn your passion into reality. Our community foundation donors are passionate people with a common mission: inspiring philanthropy and transforming the quality of life in southeastern Virginia. Since 1950, we’ve invested over $225 million on behalf of generous people, who live, work and strive to make Hampton Roads a great community.

It has been a sad December in Hampton Roads. Our region lost two powerful voices for philanthropy -- Toy D. Savage Jr. and Macon F. Brock Jr. These two men grew up in our region, raised their families and made their careers here, and devoted their lives to making Hampton Roads better for all residents. They are greatly missed. But, their legacies will live forever through their generosity and vision.

Toy D. Savage Jr.

Toy Savage, who passed away on December 7, 2017 at age 96, was an attorney with Willcox Savage. He helped establish Eastern Virginia Medical School and served as its trustee for more than 20 years. He was a long-time member of the Hampton Roads Community Foundation board and was its chair for five years. In 2012 the community foundation honored him with the Barron F. Black Community Builder Award.

He also was involved with a variety of area organizations, including the Chrysler Museum of Art, Sentara Healthcare and the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges. As an attorney with a specialty in corporate, tax and estate planning law, Toy helped many other area people find ways to be generous. Read Toy's obituary.

Macon F. Brock Jr.

Macon Brock, who passed away on December 9, 2017 at age 75 was a co-founder of Dollar Tree Inc. and its former CEO. With interests in education, arts, health and the environment he and his wife Joan helped lead and support causes such as the Chrysler Museum of Art, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Eastern Virginia Medical School, ACCESS College Foundation, Old Dominion University, Virginia Wesleyan University and their alma maters. At the Hampton Roads Community Foundation, Macon was our current board vice chair and a member of the Community Leadership Partners giving group. In 2012 he and Joan started a permanent charitable fund at the community foundation that supports scholarships at Randolph-Macon College, his alma mater.

The Brocks' generosity gained national acclaim in 2015 when Macon and Joan were named national philanthropists of the year by the Association of Fundraising Professionals. Among the many reasons they were honored were the generous donations they gave to causes they were passionate about. Among them were the Chesapeake Bay Foundation to help build the Brock Environmental Center in Virginia Beach, one of the greenest buildings in the country, and EVMS to start the M. Foscue Brock Institute for Community and Global Health. Read more about Macon.

Both Toy and Macon inspired others by the ways they lived. They will long be remembered in so many ways. We thank them for making life better in Hampton Roads.

We appreciate Macon Brock’s family designating the Hampton Roads Community Foundation to receive memorial gifts for the Macon & Joan Brock Scholarship Fund for Randolph-Macon College, which we administer. Click here to donate in memory of Macon Brock.

If you would like to make a gift to the community foundation in memory of Toy Savage click here.